Fearless campaigner for transparency Tom Watson signed a commercial contract with a Allen Lane to co-write a book that will generate earnings, but he has not declared this contract to Parliament. Since the book’s subject matter relates directly to his work as a member of the Culture Select Committee, this lack of transparency is doubly odd. Watson is profiting while quoting Bob Dylan and grandstanding on the Committee…

When Guido raised this earlier Watson went on the attack, forcing the Chairman of the Committee to rein him in. One thing for was clear – Watson didn’t want to talk about it:

Dial M for Murdoch came out well before today’s report, yet page 312 explicitly states that the Committee would find that News International had misled Parliament – it was a leak from a position of privilege with commercial implications. John Whittingdale, the Committee chairman, said he did not know of any breach committed by Watson – well now he does. Not only has Watson undermined Parliament, but he did so to line his pockets. A fit person for the committee?